U.S. Agents to Join Carolina Safety Inspectors

By RONALD SMOTHERS,

Published: October 24, 1991

ATLANTA, Oct. 23—
More than a month after 25 people died in a fire at a North Carolina chicken processing plant, the Department of Labor said today that it would send Federal inspectors to augment beleaguered state inspectors in enforcing workplace safety laws in the state.

At a news conference in Washington, Labor Secretary Lynn Martin said 14 Federal inspectors would supplement the state's procedures for investigating and responding to complaints.

Ms. Martin and Federal Labor Department officials denied suggestions that the move amounted to a criticism of the North Carolina workplace inspection program. The North Carolina Labor Commissioner, John C. Brooks, rejected any characterization of the announcement as a takeover of the state program. Highly Unusual Move

But labor union officials and experts familiar with the agency's procedures called it a clear rebuke of the state program and a highly unusual move. They pointed out that the Federal effort would not be integrated with the existing state program but would be a separate, parallel program. Federal safety inspectors are generally considered more knowledgeable, efficient and tougher on enforcement than inspectors for states that run their own workplace safety programs, they said.

"Today's action was necessitated by North Carolina's abysmal inspection record," said Lane Kirkland, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., which last month asked the Department of Labor to withdraw approval of the state's safety program and bring in Federal inspectors. "OSHA has at last taken the right step to help protect workers in North Carolina."

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, is part of the Department of Labor and enforces Federal laws and regulations on health safety in the workplace.

After the fire, local and state officials acknowledged that the plant had never been inspected for safety violations in its 11 years. Surviving workers said that fire exits were routinely locked, that there were no alarm and sprinkler systems and that no fire drills had ever been conducted.

Donald Savelson, a New York lawyer who has written textbooks on workplace safety law, said that not only was the action by the Federal agency without precedent in the 20 years of Federal legislation setting standards for workplace safety, it was a clear message to other states that their programs would be scrutinized more closely. Padlocked Exits

The fire at the Imperial Food Products Company in Hamlet, N.C., on Sept. 3, was caused when a ruptured hydraulic line sent fuel spraying into gas burners that heated vats of cooking oil in which chicken was being prepared. Many of the victims died of smoke inhalation in a confused rush to find fire exits or while banging on padlocked exit doors.

Commissioner Brooks acknowledged last month that with 12 to 16 inspectors, his agency was understaffed and could handle only a small fraction of the complaints and routine inspections involving more than 150,000 work sites in the state. But he added that some of the blame for that situation had to be borne by the Federal government, which he said continued to approve state programs as effective despite such shortcomings.

Under Federal laws in effect since 1971, states may operate their own, federally approved workplace safety programs. Or they can allow OSHA inspectors to enforce the law in their states. North Carolina is one of 23 states that operates its own program.

With Secretary Martin's action today, Federal investigators will go to North Carolina and take over from the state a backlog of 14 complaints filed by workers who say they are being retaliated against for whistle blowing. They will handle all new complaints of this kind as well, said an OSHA spokesman, Douglas Fuller, but they will also receive and investigate complaints directly from the public.